This is my first story ever so please have mercy.

I don't own Solo Leveling or any story mentioned in this fanfic.

(Location: Melromarc Kingdom)

??1: Fantastic the summoning was a success!

Those were the first words Jin-Woo heard when he woke up.

Jin-Woo: 'Well seems I've arrived. They weren't lying when they said it would take no time to get here. It was practically instantaneous.'

??2:what the-!?

???1:Brave heroes, please save our world from great evil!

??2,??3,??4,??5: What!?

Jin-Woo: 'So there's are the other 4. They have a bow, a sword, a spear and a shield... wait a shield? What kind of weapon is that?'

Beru: 'My liege, you shouldn't associate yourself with them. They are far beneath your greatness.'

Jin-Woo: 'Whoever they might be. Well have to work with them. It will be easier when we eventually have to kill the incarnation.'

The other 4 heroes look quite confused. Unlike Jin-Woo they probably don't know what's happening right now.

One of them in particular starts looking around a lot more then the others.

??2: Who the hell are these guys, and where the hell am I? And what the hell is this? A shield?

The sage at front steps up in front of the heroes looking for help.

Sage: Please oh brave heroes, our world is in dire need of saving.

??2: Is this for real?

??5: what do you mean "it's in need of saving"?

Sage: The story behind all of this is long and complicated, but suffice it to say, you are the 5 cardinal heroes and you were summoned here using an ancient ritual. Our world is in a fragile state and on the brink of destruction so we beg you oh brave heroes, please lend us your aid.

While the mage in front was talking, Sung Jin-Woo sent a 100 shadows to survey the caste, the town outside and the forest near the town. Good thing the room they were summoned in was dark, no one could see the shifting and moving shadows Jin-Woo sent out.

Jin-Woo: 'Better get a feel for the area now then later. Igrit tell me if the shadows find anything of interest.'

Igrit: 'Your wish is my command, master.'

Jin-Woo: 'Now, I wonder what the other heroes will say to the sages request.'

??3: Forget it.

??5: I also refuse.

??3: You can send us back to our home world right? Do that and then we'll talk.

??4 steps up and points his sword at the crowd of mages.

??4: You brought the 5 of us here without consent. Don't you feel guilty about it?

??5: not to mention, if you send us back as soon as we restore piece wouldn't that render all our work for nothing?

??3: How wiling are you to accommodate our requests. Depending on your answer, we might end up your enemies instead of your allies.

??2: 'What's with these guys? They haven't just taken all this in stride, but they've already started demanding respect and awards. But the other guy didn't say anything yet. I hope he's not like then.'

Jin-Woo was really disappointed. 3 out of the 4 people that he was summoned with are just thinking about themselves.

He understands that unlike him the other 4 were likely summoned here without a choice but there's quite literally an entire world in danger and all they want are rewards for deeds they haven't accomplished yet.

Jin-Woo: 'They're the same as Yuri Orloff.'

Beru senses his sovereigns disappointment and is angered by the fact that these greedy humans are associated with his liege.

Beru: 'My liege, please let me exterminate these sorry excuses of heroes. They can't be allowed to be associated with you.'

Jin-Woo: 'Beru, let me handle this.'

Beru: 'Of course my liege.'

Jin-Woo: You 3 do realize there's an entire world of innocent people that are in danger and only the 5 of us can stop it. How selfish are you to demand rewards from people that are in need of help.

The 3 heroes are startled at his reaction to what they said. They didn't expect one of their own to react like that. One of them try's to say something back.

??4: Well these people have kidnapped us from our worlds without consent. We have some right to demand compensation.

??2 Hey guys let's not fight now, let's hear what they want to say.

Sageq ZB : Good sirs before we say anymore, we would like you to have an audience with the king of Melromarc. You can negotiate the rewards with him directly.

??4: Alright fine.

??5: I suppose we can consider their offer.

??3: Doesn't matter who we talk to, our demands won't change.

Jin woo also follows them to the king and looks back at ??2.

Jin-Woo: Hey let's go. You don't wanna be left behind.

??2: Oh, right. 'Wow I didn't expect that at all. For some reason, unlike the rest of us, it feels like he's not someone to mess with.'

As they walk they get a view of the outside.

??5: Wow look. This really is another world.

??3: Sure is.

??2: even the air feels different. Looks like it would be described in some sort of travel brochure.

Jin-Woo: the air is probably different because there's no pollution.

??5: does that mean you've never traveled outside of Japan before.

??4: Judging by the breeze, I'd say this place has a fairly standard Mediterranean climate.

Jin-Woo: 'that guy with the sword really wants to sound cool. Seems like he's the edgy 16 yo type.'

??2: Y-yea that's what I meant.

As they walk Jin-Woo notices something on the corner of his vision. When he focuses on it a status bar appears in front of him. Naturally, after his experience with the system he's not surprised by things like this anymore and just checks what it says.

Sung Jin-Woo

The Mage Hero

Level: 1

MAX HP: 999999

MAX MP: 999999

MAX SP: 999999

STATS:

Attack: 999999

Magic: 999999

Physical Defense: 999999

Magical Defense: 999999

Dexterity: 999999

AFFINITY:

Fire: 10

Water: 10

Ice: 10

Wind: 10

Earth: 10

Lightning: 10

Light: 10

Dark: 10

EQUIPMENT:

Magic roots

Otherworld clothes

Jin-Woo: 'It looks like all my stats say 999999. Probably due to my abilities as the Shadow Sovereign. But I'll have to check on how affinity works. '

When he checks the equipment tab. Seems normal until his eyes land on magic roots.

Jin-Woo: 'What the hell are magic roots?'

As Jin-Woo and the other heroes walk out of the building. They were being observed by a certain redhead.

Jin-Woo: 'And why do I feel like I want to kick something now? And what's this weird presence I'm feeling?'

(Timeskip)

(Location: Throne room)

King: So, you yong men are the five cardinal heroes of legend. This is the land of Melromarc and I am her king. Welcome brave heroes, please identify yourselves.

??4: Ren Amaki, I'm a high school student and I'm 16.

Jin-Woo: 'looks like I nailed it.'

??3:I'm Motoyasu Kitamura, college student and 21.

??5: Guess I'm next. Itsuki Kawasumi, still in highschool and I'm 17.

??2: My name is-.

King: good. Ren, Motoyasu and Itsuki.

??2: Yo king aren't you forgetting the 2 of us?

King: Oh, yes. Forgive me.

Itsuki: Hey you can't just say "yo king". You have to address him with a little respect.

??2: So what then? "Your highness"? "My liege"?

Jin-Woo chuckled at the last part.

Motoyasu: No that's too formal. And my liege is normally used for nobility that the person using the name is alined with.

King: King is enough.

??2: ok whatever you prefer. I'm Naofumi Iwatani. College student and 20 years old.

The rest of the heroes now turn to Jin-Woo expecting him to introduce himself too.

Jin-Woo: Sung Jin-Woo.

King: Now then, let's explain the reason why we've summoned you here.

Naofumi: Is he ignoring us again!?

Beru: 'A LESSER KING DARES DISRESPECT MY LIEGE!! I'LL RIP HIM TO PIECES!!!'

Jin-Woo can hear the cries of his angry shadows agreeing with Beru.

Jin-Woo: Just let it go. He won't listen to us either way.

Sung Jin-Woo said this to both Naofumi and his army.

Naofumi signed.

King: My beloved country of Melromarc and the entire world surrounding it are heading down a path of certain ruin.

Naofumi: 'I'm still pissed off at how the King's treating me, but here's the long story short. This world has an apocalyptic prophecy, that speaks of a series of 'Waves' of destructive force. And if not stopped, the waves will lead the world to ruin. Each country here has an ancient dragon hourglass, which can predict the arrival of the Waves. The first wave appeared before we were summoned. Local knights and traveling adventurers somehow managed to fend it off, but the following Waves will be even more potent. The hourglass's sands will keep trickling as long as the waves keep coming. Currently, less than a month remains until the second Wave.'

King: We underestimated the potency of the waves. Once we experienced the first one, and barely survived, we realized only the 5 cardinal heroes can counter them. So we followed the legend and summoned you 5. But now we don't have time to loose.

Ren: ok I think we get the gist of it. Now, I'm sure you didn't bring us here thinking we'd save you for free.

Motoyasu: well seems like we don't have a choice and we'll have to take your word for it.

Ren: As long as you don't renege, well do it.

Itsuki: exactly we won't put up with you looking down on us.

Jin-Woo: 'working with people like them is gonna be a pain.'

Naofumi: Y-yea what these guys said. 'Good lord they are full of themselves.'

King: If I can trust that we've reached an agreeable arrangement, I'd like to ask you to check your statuses.

Jin-Woo: 'Well already did that.'

Naofumi: Wait, a status?

Itsuki: Uh, yea a status...

Ren: Are you guys dense? That should be the first thing you notice when you got here.

Naofumi: 'Oh shut up.'

Ren: look at the icon on the lower right corner of your vision.

Naofumi: Uh where, oh now I see it.

Ren: Focus on it.

Naofumi: Like this? Woah!

Itsuki: Only level 1? That's a problem.

Motoyasu: yea how can we even fight like this?

Jin-Woo checked his status again just to be sure. And there it is, the magic roots. He had no idea what they were, or how to use them, he doesn't even know where they are.

Naofumi: What is all this?

Kings advisor: It's called status magic. It tells you everything you need to know about yourselfes and your weapons. And to upgrade your weapons you have to set out on an adventure.

Naofumi: so they weren't maxed out when we got them. And mines not even a weapon.

Jin-Woo: Hey king. What are these magic roots in my equipment. I can't find them anywhere.

King: It's a weapon that's attached to the user like the shield. It should be on your left hand.

When Sung Jin-Woo goes to check. He sees that what the king said was true. On his left arm that beared the scar he got from the sovereign of destruction. Starting from in between the middle of his forearm and his wrist and ending at his fingers and the middle of his forearm, looks to be silver roots starting from a light blue gem and going through his arm like tree roots. They also look somewhat like silver tattoos. Although it looks like a tattoo at first glance, Jin-Woo can feel the magical power coursing through the roots. But it seems separate from his own.

Jin-Woo: 'maybe I can combine it with my own magic power.'

Ren: Looks like we have a lot of training ahead of us.

Itsuki: Well need to level up hard and fast.

Although it will probably be a tedious process. To Jin-Woo it felt nostalgic to have a system like the one he used. But the bad part about this all is that he'll probably need to form a party with these people. He won't be able to go in solo.

Naofumi: and once the 5 of us feel were ready we can-.

Kings advisor: One moment brave heroes.

All heroes except Jin-Woo: Huh?

Kings advisor: I forgot to mention, the legendary weapons hinder each other's progress when near one another.

So you all will need separate parties.

Jin woo smiles at this, maybe he'll be able to go in solo after all.

King: Since the sun is about to set. Rest for tonight and you all will begin your adventures tomorrow. And for tomorrow we'll gather the best of the best to form your parties.

Random lady: We have quarters prepared for you. Please sirs, right this way.

(Elsewhere)

??1: I heard the 5 cardinal heroes were summoned today.

??2: all of them in Melromarc?

??3: Wait, that means... the shield and mage heroes are here too.

(Location: hero quarters)

Motoyasu: I guess when you're legendary heroes you get special treatment. The girl who led us here was cute too.

Itsuki: even if our dinner was quite good the taste was a little off.

Jin-Woo is sitting in a corner looking through the weapon skills he's got now.

Jin-Woo: 'The emissary said that this weapon will let me trap the soul of the incarnation, but for now, it doesn't show any skill that would help do that. I could always just turn it into a shadow, but maybe that won't work for the incarnation since it's just a fragment of the goddess.'

MAGIC ROOTS

ACTIVE SKILLS:

Observation lvl 1

Magic manipulation lvl 1

Healing lvl 1

Body enhancement lvl 1

PASSIVE SKILLS:

Elemental manipulation lvl 1

Naofumi: Hey doesn't this seem like a game.

Motoyasu: That's because it is a game. It's exactly like Emerald Online.

Jin-Woo: Never heard of that game.

Motoyasu: How!? It's huge surely You've hear of it from somewhere. Not to mention we're somehow in it.

Itsuki: what are you talking about. This is a console game I'm playing called Dimension Web.

Ren: You're both wrong. This place is identical to a vrmmo game called Brave Star Online.

Jin-Woo: 'looks like they're all at least from different times, and at most totally different versions of Japan.'

Motoyasu: First let's sort this out. Ren do you mean an actual vrmmo.

Ren confirms this.

Motoyasu: You guys do get what he means by that, right?

Itsuki: A game I played exploded the concept.

Naofumi: I've read about it in light novels.

Motoyasu: well let's compare general knowledge.

While they were doing that Sung Jin-Woo felt a presence spying on them.

Jin-Woo: 'So... someone is spying on us.'

Beru: 'Should we hunt them down for you, my liege?'

Jin-Woo: 'No because they were probably sent by the king, but if they ever spy on us when we're somewhere outside, you're free to capture them for interrogation.'

(Timeskip)

Jin-Woo: 'Looks like I was right. Looks like we're all from different worlds.'

Itsuki: Hey Jin-Woo. Judging by your name you're from South Korea, right? Did any of our worlds match yours?

Jin-Woo: I am South Korean. But no, none of your worlds match mine except for Naofumi's.

Naofumi: Is there a game that's similar to this world in yours?

Jin-Woo: No, but the concept of monsters appearing from openings created out of thin air isn't really new to me.

Ren: How?

Jin-Woo contemplates how much to reveal. Maybe he should reveal that he fought against monsters from gates that are similar to the ones from the waves. After a few moments he decided to reveal it.

Jin-Woo: Well for starters I've encountered monsters like the ones from the waves I'm my world. And to fight them we used awoken humans that were capable of pushing them back. But if the monsters from the waves are even half as strong we'll have our work cut out for us.

Naofumi: Woah really. But I thought you said that were from the same world. I don't remember any monsters appearing in my world.

Jin-Woo: Well right now only a few people in my world know of their existence 'it's not a lie since only he and the emissary know about it now'. So It's not surprising that normal people don't know about it. And even though our worlds seem the same, they can still be 2 different worlds.

Ren: But aren't waves described as big calamity's that can end the world. How did the people that know of the waves in your world keep it a secret.

Jin-Woo: Well we didn't have waves of monsters, we had gates. The monsters in my world came from gates that would appear randomly and we had 7 days to clear the gates before any monsters could get out.

Motoyasu: Well if you're not lying about your world, when the next wave comes we'll be counting on you to lead us.

Jin-Woo: 'God I hope not.'

Naofumi: Hey Ren did you find out about the status thing because you normally play vrmmos?

Ren: Yes it's a practical way to see your menu in vr games so you don't need to use your hands.

Naofumi: Anyway what happened before you guys were summoned. I was in a library and started reading a book that was very similar to the story of this world.

Motoyasu: Well I dated 2 girls, and one of them became possessive and killed me.

Ren: For me it was somewhat the same. But what's different is that I got killed by a murderer while saving my best friend.

Naofumi: 'Well isn't he a proper isekai protagonist.'

Itsuki: I just got hit by a speeding truck.

Naofumi: 'and for him, truck-kun appeared.'

Jin-Woo: I died in a fight with an ice elf and a giant cross between a grizzly and a grey wolf.

Motoyasu: Jesus... what a way to go out. Oh Jin-Woo, did you get that scar in a fight then?

Jin-Woo: Yea, again sam almost undefeatable enemy that I lost to. But later we had a little rematch and I won.

Jin-Woo wasn't ready yet to admit that he got a mission from godlike beings like the rulers to save this world, and the fact that he himself is a godlike being. So he went with the half truth, because he did actually die like that, just leaving out the fact he came back to life.

Naofumi: Ugh man. I can't believe the 3 of you have played a game that's so much like this world. And to top that Jin-Woo actually encountered the monsters from the gates in his world. Why am I the Only one completely out of the loop.

Naofumi then notices that Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu are starting at him.

Naofumi: What is it. Why are you all starting at me.

Itsuki: Oh it's nothing I just assumed it's because you're the shield hero.

Motoyasu: Hah you too.

Ren: Well yea. It only makes sense.